BASEBALL AROUND THE WORLD!

BUILDING A BASEBALL FIELD?

Baseball season is closer than we think and people have been sending me some baseball field construction questions. I have received several messages about How to build….the field…the mound….the infield etc..?

Building a baseball field takes planning and unfortunately sometimes more money than you may have in your budget. One of the first questions… Do you have enough land or property and will be the field be oriented properly? I would also suggest the following questions be asked of those involved before you put a shovel in the ground.

1. Usage of the field: Who? How much? and when? These questions will steer you towards the type of field you will need to build.

2. What Type of Grass: Natural…Bluegrass or Bermuda?…or synthetic?

3. How much money do we have? That’s a loaded question but after the first two questions it is time to bring the accountant in! Where can we find the money to build the field we want? Are there Grants? Private? Municipal Funds? Donations?

4. Who will maintain the new field and at what level ? In house maintenance? Outsource maintenance? Again …budget the entire field including maintenance operations before you build it. Example: Don’t build a Ferrari when you don’t have the budget to take care of it. Taking care of a high performance sports field takes a lot of money

5. Selecting someone to design and build it? Again.. its an examination of your internal resources and if you have staff that understands how to develop a design or construction specification. Designing your new field with the right goals for usage is what you should be shooting for. Hiring a reputable firm to design your field? Should you hire a consultant for owners representation? Should we consider asking for Sponsorships to help offset material costs? Can the Community help? Have you heard of the MLB Baseball Tomorrow Fund?

Once you have decided on some of the issues above and hired a reputable sports field contractor to install your field, You will be on your way towards building your field of dreams.

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4 Comments

I am trying to convert an infield that is all grass (except surrounding the bases) to an infield that has dirt in the baseline and mid field. I am doing this myself and am trying to find out the proper demisions and composition for a great high school field. Can you help?

We built a few of these in florida for spring training and they work nice, I am assuming you will use bermuda grass as bluegrass does not work.

You should remove the existing clay and replace with sand HAve it laser graded or use strings to level it. Elevate the cutouts slightly as this will help to keep the water from weeping into the grass edges, Remove the sand from the cutouts and replace with 4 inches of clay. Then build your mound and plate, The last thing you will do is lay or plant your grass. The wear and tear around the bases can be pretty big so plan to re sod after each season.

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